Lawyers accuse the DSS and the DG of contempt.

A group of human rights attorneys filed a contempt complaint against Yusuf Bichi, director general of the State Security Service, for allegedly disobeying numerous court orders directing the release of suspended Central Bank Governor Godwin Emefiele from agency custody.

They have filed a contempt case in an effort to imprison the DSS director in accordance with the law’s guidelines for disobeying a legitimate court order.

Form 48, which notifies people of the repercussions of disobeying a court order, and Form 49, which asks the High Court of the Federal Capital Territory, FCT, Abuja to commit a suspected contravenor to prison, were both submitted on Monday.

Maxwell Opara and Barrister Abdulazeez Tijani, two legal professionals, pleaded with the court to jail the DSS DG till he absolves himself of the contempt.

The State Security Service was specifically prohibited by Justice M. A. Hassan from arresting, detaining, or questioning Emefiele for offenses related to financing terrorism, money laundering, round-tripping, financial crimes of national security dimension, among other offenses, according to the lawyers’ affidavit in support of the application.

They claimed that the State Security Service had continued to arrest and hold Emefiele “for well over a month while shopping for evidence” against the obvious and affirmative directions of Justice Hassan.

Maxwell Opara, speaking about the court’s ruling, said the group will pursue the matter to its logical conclusion to serve as a warning to other heads of security agencies and high-ranking government officials that gross abuse of office for personal vengeance and contempt of court will no longer be tolerated.

He asked, “Is it not clear enough to Nigerians that the SSS is persecuting Emefiele if after holding him for 5 weeks they can only file a ridiculous charge of possessing a pump action gun?”

“If possessing a validly registered pump action gun is a crime worthy of being held in perpetuity, what has the SSS done to the person threatening Nigerians from a particular section of the country with an assault rifle? This clearly shows the travails of Emefiele are more for political reasons than for any other.”

“Assuming there was no valid court order, since the DSS had been unable to find any evidence against Emefiele, he was entitled to his release and how much more now that three different courts have ordered his release, the SSS is still holding him in unlawful detention and violating all his rights, hence the reason why we will ensure Yusuf Magaji Bichi ends up being committed to prison.”

He pleaded with President Bola Tinubu to immediately remove Bichi from his position as DG SSS because he is accused of deceiving the President into believing that Emefiele had committed heinous crimes against the State before going on to accuse Emefiele of illegally possessing firearms.